Take Action: End the 287(g) Program!

Please join AAI, Rights Working Group (RWG), and allies on this national day of action to end the 287(g) program. The 287(g) program is run by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and deputizes state and local police and sheriffs to enforce federal immigration law. Although the 287(g) program has proven to result in racial profiling, rather than ending the program, the agency is looking to expand the program to new jurisdictions instead of ending it.

We need your help.

Sheriffs in several states have asked the federal government to expand their local deportation powers. The new agreements will be reviewed by DHS as soon as next week.

Call the White House today and urge them to deny these pending applications and also finally put an end to the entire 287(g) program:

202-456-1111

Background: The 287(g) program gained notoriety in 2007 through its strongest proponent–the abusive Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Plagued by controversy, the 287(g) program was supposed to be phased out, according to the Administration. Yet today the program is still destroying communities in 57 local jurisdictions, and now some Sheriffs are looking to expand it to additional counties in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Virginia.

President Obama won re-election with a mandate to do better on immigration, not to continue broken policies like 287(g). The 11 new applications and the active counties are up for review by the Department of Homeland Security on December 17. We need to make it clear that 287(g) should be a thing of the past. Our families belong together. It's police and ICE that should be separated.

Please take 3 minutes out of your time to call the White House today and again on the 17th to tell President Obama: "No More 287(g)!"

"My name is ______________ and I'm calling from ___________. I am calling to urge the President to stop the expansion of 287(g) to new jurisdictions nationwide and end the program altogether. We want to see a difference on immigration in the President's 2nd term. The road to reform can start by terminating 287(g). It leads to racial profiling, makes us all less safe, and should be ended. Thank you."

Your voice will be echoed by people from all over the country, as well as by the Florida Immigrant Coalition, ACLU of Florida, North Carolina Justice Center, Coalicion de Organizaciones Latino Americanas, ACLU of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Centro Presente, VA Legal Aid Justice Center - Immigrant Advocacy Program, Rights Working Group, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, and NDLON.